Survey 6

1895 – 1905

Have you ever been to a theatre? Hmm, if you have not, then have you ever seen a movie? Even if you have not, then have you seen a gif or any other moving image on a screen? Chances are you have, and that’s because of an incredible sibling duo that decided to create something new over 125 years ago!

“Le cinéma est une invention sans avenir—Cinema is an invention without a future.”
Louis Lumière

The Lumière Brothers showed their first moving pictures

**Lumière brothers**
image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_and_Louis_Lumi%C3%A8re

The Lumiere brothers are not only the pioneers of movies but also movie posters. In 1895 they commissioned a lithographer, Henri Brispot, to design a poster for their ‘Lumière Cinématographe.’ It helped attract a lot more people for their first screening.

Henri Brispot, **Cinématographe Lumière**, 1896
image source: https://news.artnet.com/market/sothebys-auctions-first-movie-poster-1334402

It became common practice, and now not a single movie is released without a poster to support it. The Lumiere brothers influenced and created a major field of media and applied art that created numerous creative careers and revolutionized storytelling as a whole for society.

This development has affected science and technology as new models of cameras, television sets, video games, phones, are released ever so often! The Lumiere brothers didn’t stop after this win but kept at it, and the next thing they had their eyes on was colored photographs.

Colored photographs without pigments had been invented by Gabriel Lippmann, who won a Nobel prize for his discovery in 1906. Quite interestingly, the Lumiere brothers had created the ‘Autochrome Lumiere’ patented in 1903, which relied on the additive color process. Which begs the question if they both had ever met each other?

***Lumière brothers***, artist: Maria Manhattan
image source: https://www.knowitall.org/photo/lumi%C3%A8re-brothers-artopia

Well, I found the answer. Apparently, they both were in France, and after a little bit of digging, there is proof that they were both in contact with each other and were regularly updating each other on their progress. While Lippmann was a man of physics, the Lumiere brothers were experts in the industrial side; with their combined forces and different approaches to the matter- they found a solution!

Lippmann focused on interferometric color photography while the Lumiere brothers used the trial and error method to find one that worked in practicality. Lippmann found a sound theoretical observation that got him the Noble prize, but he didn’t solve the problem of color photography yet. The Lumiere brothers were hitting a dead end, but after the progress made by Lippmann, they gained confidence and began to experiment until they finally discovered the three-color autochrome plates.

I find it very interesting how little I knew about the effort they put into it. Lippmann started his experiments in 1886! Only to complete in 1907 and only with a theoretical solution that would be invalid in practicality.

Most websites and pages only talk about the highlights in their search and skip the collaboration and trial and error that went into this discovery. Nothing is found when you are alone, hidden in a room. All inventions, creations, and developments happened when people found like-minded people to bounce their ideas off. We need to collaborate and share our explorations if we want to change history.